Annville boy, 7, and his mother drown in Lycoming County

A 7-year-old Annville boy and his mother have drowned in an incident in Lycoming County.

Adam Reiff, 7, was wading with his family in Pine Creek in the area of the boat launch near Ramsey Drive and Route 44 in Cummings Township at about 2:30 p.m. Tuesday when he waded into water where it was too deep to stand, according to state police at Montoursville.

He began to panic and appeared to be drowning as he was pulled under by the current, so several family members attempted to save him, but were unsuccessful. 

The boy's mother, Ada "Lorissa" Reiff, 35, went into the water a second time to try to find her son and was also caught by the current and dragged underwater, according to a news release issued by Lycoming County Coroner Charles Kiessling Jr.

Ada Reiff was pulled out of the water and onto the west shore of the creek further downstream by family members, according to a July 11 Williamsport Sun-Gazette story.

Emergency personnel, including state police at Montoursville and state Fish and Boat Commission waterways conservation officers, were called to the scene at about 2:45 p.m. 

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An amphibious ATV was initially used to get Ada Reiff to the Route 44 side of the creek, but it overturned shortly after leaving the west shore. She was pulled from the creek again and loaded onto a rescue boat which transported her to the other side of the creek.

Emergency personnel performed CPR on her while transporting her to Geisinger Jersey Shore Hospital where they were finally able to get her pulse, the Sun-Gazette story says. She was later flown to Geisinger Medical Center-Danville where she succumbed to the drowning. She was pronounced dead at 10 p.m.

Adam Reiff was not located until about an hour later.

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Divers were dispatched to the scene, but were not needed after a volunteer firefighter on a rescue boat found the boy in the water just before 4 p.m. Volunteer firefighters performed CPR on the boy during transport to the same hospital his mother was taken to. 

Lycoming County Coroner Charles Kiessling Jr. pronounced the boy dead at 4:46 p.m. and ruled the death an accidental drowning.

The investigation into the incident is ongoing.